Kamasu (Japanese Barracuda) part 1

I got some fish from work the other day. 'Twas magnificent.

On the left are two Kamasu (Japanese Barracuda) and the one on the right is a Hagatsuo (Striped Bonito).  I worked on the Kamasu first.

This one was around half a pound. Not too big of a fish, kinda like a slightly bigger Sanma.  Much more friendly looking than the typical barracuda too.

But it's got some sharp teeth. Actually kinda hurt when I poked myself.

Anyways. First thing I did was lop off the head.

Cut straight down the stomach. Luckily, this one was still relatively fresh. Kamasu are known to go bad faster than most fish. 

If you've got a super fresh Kamasu, people say it's delicious to steam the liver and mix it with soy sauce, and use it to eat the sashimi. You can also salt it up and make Shiokara with the stomach and intestines, like how you would do with squid innards.

But I hate Shiokara, so I tossed the insides and cleaned it out. (I also couldn't tell which thing was what part.) Make sure to get the bloodline out because it tastes bad.

And then you do some stuff and BAM you're done. 

Just kidding. My hands got too dirty to keep taking pics. It was quite a bitch to fillet this small fish with a Daiso knife without messing up the flesh too much.

I'll hopefully do a more detailed post on filleting fish sometime later.

Sliced out the rib bones. See how it looks kind of dried out? This is what happens when you waste way too much time taking pictures instead of cutting the fish. Try not to do that haha. 

Deboning, using some random tweezers I found in the house. If any of my family members has fishy smelling eyebrows, this will be why. 

And done. Two fillets, trimmed and deboned. 

(This was actually the second fish, which I did much faster than the first, so the flesh is still nice and moist.)

Some crappily cut kamasu. Still can't figure out how to go from fillet to sashimi...

Taste test: honestly, this fish tastes kinda bad eaten straight up raw. The taste is kinda weak without any umami, the skin is tough and chewy, and the fishyness is overwhelming. 

Remembering how sushi places would sear kamasu sushi, I decided to cook it. Cut off a chunk and made some cuts in the skin. I think this prevents the skin from curling as drastically?

Didn't have a blowtorch so I frypanned it for literally less than 5 seconds on the skin side. 

Wao. So much better. I guess the fat is hidden right under the skin, because the moment it hit the pan it started sizzling and got all juicy. Skin is much more enjoyable crispy too.

It was like 3am by this time so I started putting stuff away. My coworker suggested doing a Hitoyaboshi with the kamasu, to remove moisture and concentrate the flavor of the fish. Usually it's done by air drying on a rack, but I didn't have the space in the fridge, so I put a paper towel on the sashimi slices and salted it to remove moisture that way (think it's called Kamishio).

Will write more tomorrow on how it turned out.......